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Three men found guilty of plotting to attack Federation Square in Melbourne on Christmas Eve

November 14, 2018 | Brainwave Science

SITUATION

A group of three men, namely Melbourne Christmas Eve attack Plot, 3 men found guilty face life imprisonment for their roles in a plot kill to innocent people in the Central Business District of Melbourne. The men had planned to carry out an attack around the Federation Square, over the Christmas period in 2016, to inflict maximum casualties.

The verdict was delivered on November 2, after a lengthy trial.

Ibrahim Abbas, brother of Hamza Abbas, was the key witness to this case. Aged 24, Ibrahim claims to have been the leader of the group and the one who motivated the three accused to participate in the Islamic State-style plot.

The trio planned to use all sorts of weapons for this attack. Machetes were purchased from a fishing and camping store. They attempted to make explosive compounds. Supplies were bought from a chemist warehouse. Chaarani also attempted to obtain a firearms license on the pretext of hunting feral animals on Crown land. Mohamed and Chaarani had also conducted research on how to make IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and read articles about bomb-making from Al-Qaeda’s publications.

Text messages, emails and voicemails sent within the group were intercepted by the authorities. These messages show that the group had sympathy towards the ISIS and desired to wage war against ‘non-believers’. Details of the plot were revealed by the Prosecution.

CHALLENGE

Prominent monuments and buildings like the Federation Square are soft-spots which persons with malevolent interests can target and harm a huge number of innocent people. This is not the first time when the square was on the cross-hairs of terrorists.

On 27 November 2017, an Australian man of Somali parentage was arrested for plotting a mass shooting. Twenty-year-old Ali Khalif Shire Ali from Werribee, Victoria was charged the next day in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court with preparing to commit a terrorist attack and gathering documents to facilitate a terrorist act. Police believed that Ali planned to “shoot and kill as many people as he could” in Federation Square, Melbourne on New Year’s Eve.

It is one thing to try to solve a terrorist incident, but it is completely a different ball game to try to prevent one. A terrorist can easily blend in with the public. He or she may be working in the same office as us. Not only may he or she have grown up around us, but also been radicalized recently without us even noticing. It is in their best interest to remain conspicuous until they commit the act.

Today, the biggest challenge faced by counter-terrorism agencies is to pre-empt terror strikes.

WHY ICOGNATIVE?

The brains of terrorists hold sensitive information about contacts in sleeper cells, terror networks, details of planned attacks, sources from where they usually procure supplies and weapons, etc.

Counter-terrorism officials will heave a sigh of relief when they are able to accurately validate potential threats and terrorist activity. There is a tool which can measure a testee’s brain response to stimuli related to IED/EOD bomb knowledge. The brain response can reveal whether the testee possesses such information or not. This can tell the investigators if the person being tested has ever been brainwashed or exposed to terrorism-related influence. This state-of-the-art tool is called iCognative, developed and provided only by Brainwave Science. Not limited only to bomb knowledge, iCognative can help discover high-value terrorist superstars, terrorist networks, places and events.

In a very accurate manner,iCognative can ascertain the level to which an individual is involved in a terrorist plot. It can even reveal if a person is a part of a sleeper cell, as his brain will always retain terrorism-related training. It is very easy to decode the structure of a terrorist network using iCognative.

tests can be administered on all the four men, including the ring-leader Ibrahim. As detailed above, it will help in not only confirming their guilt but also help in uncovering more details related to terror in Australia and beyond. iCognative technology enables counter-terrorism officials will be able to scientifically test suspected terrorists to indict or exonerate them based on the information stored within their brain.

Usual intelligence gathering processes involve long interrogation sessions, sometimes where force is used. iCognative elicits information in a non-invasive manner. Where traditional information gathering techniques like DNA are only applicable in 1 to 2 % of the cases, iCognative is applicable to more than 85% of the cases.

Counter-terrorism agencies have yearned for a technology which can help catch terrorists and pre-empt terrorist activities in a cost-effective, accurate and reliable manner. iCognative can highlight active and inactive terrorists. It is a technology which is more than 99% accurate in its results and thus, is a powerful weapon in the fight against terrorism.